Just before the sounding of my alarm I awoke to the beautiful form of my wife who lay curled up beside me. Her face even in sleep telling me of our new nature of grace and beauty. The result of a life in obedience to Jesus. Kissing her I arose. But even before my feet could reach the floor a faithful friend came once again to the forefront of my waking mind. Often does he come. He is a question who remains ever consistent and true. Without fail four familiar words echo thunderously through my mind: “Whom do you serve?”. They brought me once again to the battlefield where Paul says in his letter to the church at Ephesus “…we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” [NKJV] Do not mistake me. I know that we have a war on two sides: that which is seen and that which is unseen.

Whom do you serve?

What then is the purpose of such a question? Is it to serve myself or to gain favor from God Almighty? May it never be. The nature of the question necessarily begs another question: “What are my options?” From my life experience and from the wisdom of many before me I currently rest upon this conclusion. That there is no option. You either recognize that there is One who is served or you rebel and do not serve Him. For the sake of this article I digress.

Whom do you serve?

This question is faithfully brought to me nearly each day. It began during my time at Ecola Bible School. Before class began the dean of men shared with the first year students, of which I was a member, an excerpt from the book of Ephesians. Specifically he took us to the sixth chapter. Where something old was made extraordinarily beautiful: the Armor of God.

How precious ought the armor of God be to a saint. It supersedes all earthly armament. With its core purpose to “…withstand in the evil day.” Faithful and true ring those words penned by Paul. This letter having been written while under Roman guard during his imprisonment in Rome. It is these soldiers where Paul drew his model of the Armor of God. At the time of it’s writing a majority of the known world was under Roman rule; in particular, the areas where the Gospel message was being proclaimed. This move by Paul was simple and brilliant for this reason: everybody would have known the attire of a Roman soldier. Each soldier would have: helmet, breastplate, waist skirt [made up of of leather strips], a type of greave [designed to protect the tibia], footgear, shield, and sword. In comparison Paul’s example is missing a component. The greaves. You would think that the Armor of God would be complete. This not the case when the two are set side by side. Paul says: “…put on the whole armor of God.”[NKJV] I believe that any soldier of common sense would see benefit in protecting his legs. I do not encourage looking beyond the words of Scripture but here we can draw a common sense type of conclusion: that Paul left it out on purpose. He says “…having shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace.” [NKJV] I would suppose that a soldier of Rome, when attired for war, would not “shod his feet in preparation for peace,” rather for war. When I prepare for a time of peace I think of it like this: warm sunshine, a chair, a cup of coffee, and taking off my shoes, and kicking back to read.

To my mind again comes the question:

“Whom do you serve?”

I serve Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen. Paul wrote “… when He (the Father) raised Him (Jesus) from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head of over all thingsto the church…” [Eph. 1:20-22 NKJV] We see that the victory is ours in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Kings of old would ride out with their armies to war. Our King Jesus is not riding out, but seated. And seated at the right hand of the Father. A place of honor and favor. Seeing our Lord seated with victory in hand. We wage war notfor victory but from victory.

“Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like flame of fire and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God. And the armies of heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.” [Revelation 19:11-14 NKJV]

The fact that He will be riding a white horse, and those of us who are of the cross (the armies of heaven), is of great importance. After a war or battle when the king would return to the city from a field of victory he would ride a white horse. In Revelation, Christ, and the armies of heaven, are riding out to wage war ON white horses. Not wearing armor but robes of fine linen with Christ having the sword. Proclaiming victory before the final battle has begun. That is Jesus. It is He whom I serve.

“Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:

KING OF KINGS

AND LORD OF LORDS.

With a sigh, which bespoke of my inability to do what I desired, I slipped my feet to the floor determined to give my all to serve my King.

Lord Jesus, help me to do just that. Help us all who proclaim you king do so from a position of penance.

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If the church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. I meet young people every day whose disappointment with the church has risen to outright disgust. -A Letter From Birmingham Jail

— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Written in 1963…can you believe it?

He was directing his words to a very specific event in human history, but the general truth of God saturated all of his words. You can’t ignore the relevance of his words. They are true today as they were then.

What’s that say about the church?

Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.

— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Today the church isn’t closing its mouth or hiding behind doors about something so blatant as the segregation and degradation of race. Instead the church of America has become so intensely tolerant of the things of the world that many of those who claim the name of Christ can’t be recognized as different than anyone else in today’s culture. We were intended to be a transformational force by the very real and sincere delivery of the gospel. People are then transformed…and their families, their communities, their culture. However, in the Euro-USA church (I can’t speak to that which I’ve never witnessed), we have let the culture of the world shape us. Perhaps we’ve traded our dream of Christ and heaven for an American dream.

There was a time when the church was very powerful—in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.

— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The idea that so much of the church chooses to sit idle and let time pass while twiddling their thumbs instead of standing up for the oppressed, feeding the hungry, taking care of those in need, and preaching the good news is appalling. We are the ekklesia, the “called out ones,” the ones who are supposed to be shining examples of Jesus. Today we tolerate sin, We often enable when we should voice concern. We call biblical accountability “legalism” and then think it’s ok to be not only “in the world” but “of the world” and call it being relevant.

It’s time to turn up the heat.

Call me crazy…but I think it’s time to finally start acting as our brothers in the past.

It’s time to stand out.

It’s time to speak up.

It’s time to stand and speak…not with a liberal social gospel or a conservative social gospel, but with a biblical and evangelistic gospel.

Because here’s the truth brothers and sisters:

Hell is real!

Don’t forget that.

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

— Matthew 5:14-16

I can’t stand down. And, I won’t shut up. Not when there hasn’t been significant church growth in America since the year I was born, 1991. I’m just as responsible as you are, brother, sister. Together we are the church.

Together we are supposed to effect change for the cause of our Father in heaven.

I’m praying that you and I both can allow the Spirit to move in us and through us. I pray the church would start moving back to the heart of the Bible. We need accountability. We need to challenge ourselves. We have to be different.

That’s what we were made for in Christ. We are made to shine His glorious light through the shattered pieces of our past as He continuously makes us new.